British Sailing Team at Ready Steady Tokyo - Day 1
by British Sailing Team 17 Aug 20:11 BST
17-22 August 2019
Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey - Ready Steady Tokyo, Day 1 © Sailing Energy / World Sailing
The headlines:
- Strong British start to Ready Steady Tokyo in the heat of Enoshima, Japan
- Two race wins for Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey help take them top of the 49erFX fleet
- A race win, third and sixth puts Tom Squires in second overall
- Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell take a race win and sit in second overall in the 49er
- Another British race win and sixth place puts Giles Scott in third overall
- Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre also hold third place in the 470 Women's fleet
- Two-time Olympian Ali Young sits in fourth overall in the Laser Radial
- Young gun Emma Wilson (RS:X Women), 20, beats nerves to sit in third with a 2,3,7
- Confident starts from both British Nacra 17 pairs - Ben Saxton and Nikki Boniface are third, John Gimson and Anna Burnet are sixth
- Racing continues tomorrow at 12pm local time / 4am UK
What they said:
Giles Scott (31, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire), Finn
"It was super hot today, the downwind especially I think everyone was struggling with the heat which was a bit of an eye opener. Almost all the nations are walking around in cooling vests onshore and rightly so. It's really hot out there on the water.
"Two races and a good start for me to the regatta. I'm a little annoyed about the second race when it went a little bit funky up the first beat - puffs of 20 knots, lulls of 10. It made things pretty tricky but for me a consistent day and I will take it as an opener."
Hannah Mills (31, Cardiff, Wales), 470 Women
"We didn't feel like we sailed our best today but we fought really hard for the results we got. I think we were quite lucky to come away with the results we got and they reflect probably a better performance than what we feel we delivered. But really happy to come away with those results. It's a solid first day which everyone is after but we have a lot to improve on."
Dylan Fletcher (31, Thames Ditton, Surrey), 49er
"It's the first day and it looked like it was going to be an amazing one with the conditions out there, and the first race it certainly was. We had some great speed and came away with a win but then we had a little slip up in the second race when it went a bit wacky. The breeze got a bit more consistent for the third race and we got another good score in."
Tom Squires (26, Oxford), RS:X Men
"I got a race win so that was good. There's a lot of tough guys out there and it's a little hard to stay calm when you are out in front. But, racing at the front is a lot easier than sailing in the middle. It looked really tough being caught in the cluster of people and thankfully I stayed out of it.
"Happy with my start but now the real work starts as it gets a bit lighter. I will struggle a bit more in the lighter winds so I'm definitely going to have to push myself to stay where I am."
Racing runs until Thursday August 22. Full results from the test event can be found here.
Follow the British Sailing Team at britishsailingteam.com